“Where?”
“Walk the beach?” Kyle suggested with a shrug.
Alex heaved a sigh. “I guess it couldn’t hurt.”
They climbed out of the car again. As Alex slammed his door shut, he tugged the zipper of his hoodie higher to shutout the icy breeze that wafted past him. “Did it suddenly get cold or is that chill in the air a warning that we should cut ties and run home?”
Kyle screwed up his face as he glanced at Alex. “Something wrong, Mav?”
“Yeah, something’s wrong. Ava nearly died and miraculously came back to life and instead of spending time with her, I’m wandering around on the beach looking for a guy who has been a thorn in my side since we met him after he told her she needs to stay dead.”
“Wow,” Kyle answered with a whistle. “That’s…a lot to process.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Okay, let’s parse through it. I mean…Ava is alive…win.”
“Definitely in the win column,” he said as they hit the sand, trudging through it toward the pounding surf.
“Okay, umm, Raven-slash-Sebastian–”
“Now nicknamed Shadow–”
Kyle waved his hand in the air. “Yeah, wait…we need to revisit that. The whole nickname thing needs to go in the loss column.”
“I agree completely. Same with the whole searching for this guy thing. Loss.”
“Or win,” Kyle responded. “He could be gone for good. No threat.”
Alex chewed his lower lip. The man had said exactly what he’d been thinking. Was the loss of Sebastian really a loss? “I think the same thing but Ava…”
He heaved a sigh, recalling how insistent she’d been about finding Sebastian.
“Ava insists we need to find him?” Kyle asked. “I don’t get it either.”
“Okay, thank you,” Alex said with a bob of his head as they continued along the stretch of beach he’d last seenSebastian running along. “I agree. Why is she advocating for him?”
“Well, I mean…probably because she’s a super nice person. I mean, Ava was really nice to me even after I kissed her–”
“Please stop mentioning that because it just makes me upset. Because now I’m wondering if Biceps Bancroft put his lips on Ava’s.”
Kyle tilted his head, a smirk playing on his lips. “Ohh…you think they kissed, and now she has a soft spot for him like she has for me.”
“No, I don’t know. Ava’s not stupid. I’m giving her far too little credit. If she thinks we need to find him, we do. I just…”
“Don’t want to hear that?” Kyle asked.
“Exactly.” Alex glanced behind him again, searching the beach for any signs of the missing man.
“I’m with you, brother. I don’t like this guy or get Ava’s insistence, but at the same time, she’s a smart cookie, so maybe we should listen.”
“Yeah.” Alex ground to a stop, kicking the sand around in front of him.
“Should we split up, take a look around in a wider area?”
Alex’s eyes went wide as his pulse sped. “Heck no. Are you crazy? That’s how people die, Doc.”
“Well…I thought…you’re right. This is a terrible idea. I’m terrified of Perfect Stubble, too.”
